Spyglass
by DMarEssence
Summary: A girl locked away in the tower… it isn't just the stuff of fairy tales. The YJ team discovers a secret Leaguer called 'Spyglass' that may be their only hope to rescuing the rest of the Justice League from certain fate.
1. Chapter 1

This story is kind of Roy/OC, but also takes place before the episode "Usual Suspects."

Please review, and remember, I don't own YJ or the JL, which will be true for every chapter of this story. Thanks! Read on!

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Thin beams of moonlight pierced through the trees in a Romanian forest where a hauntingly sweet melody broke through the silence between wolf howls and snapping branches. A team of armed gunmen dropped the butts of their cigarettes and their empty bottles of vodka into the dirt at their feet as they guarded the source of the sound; a cave entrance where two young children from a local village had found their way to.

Another soon joined.

"Spyglass to Batman." A voice chimed over the Dark Knight's headset as he waited patiently camouflaged in a tree for his time to strike. "The children are at your 8 o'clock, four gunmen with some serious firepower to your 12 o'clock. Flash, what is your position?"

"3 seconds out from-"

Gunfire and Romanian curses rang out over Spyglass's headset and she winced for a moment before the raucous ceased.

"Come in Flash-"

"Spyglass, this is Flash and Bats… mission accomplished."

Layla let out the breath she was holding and placed her headset on the consol next to the viewing window. Just another day in the life.

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Normally sidekicks weren't allowed in Watchtower… but when you're a helper to a super computer in space, exceptions were made. Layla sighed and moved away from the glass window overlooking Earth. She knew she had to be constantly vigilant. Even with all the street cameras in the modern world, sometimes even supercomputers miss something.

Just that day, she'd found three missing children in a Romanian forest, the location of an illegal drug ring in Mexico City and a missing Egyptian relic being shipped from Cairo. And it wasn't even 10 o'clock in the morning. But time is complicated in space.

"Superman to Watchtower," a voice sounded out over the intercom. Layla ignored it, of course. She was _never _under any circumstances to answer a call to Watchtower. It had been drilled into her head that she was the last line of defense for Watchtower, and even the world. In other words… no one could know she existed.

The founding members of the Justice League had found foster child Layla Halleck and had adapted her abilities to aid in their missions. Although ceasing all contact with the outside world to help people she didn't know or who didn't even know she existed was hardly the dream of an 11 year old orphan girl. She just wanted to be normal.

"Superman to Spyglass… how's it looking up there kid?" Layla nearly jumped out of her chair, but regained her composure quickly and allowed a small smile to play on her lips. Superman had helped her hone her powers so that she could be a contributing member of the team. She didn't blame him for her boredom. He made her realize it was her duty to use her abilities for the greater good, even if that meant sacrificing any sense of self she had left.

"All quiet on the western front, chief," she chirped into the microphone. She didn't have the heart to let her true colors fly. The world needed her, but she didn't need the world. That's the only philosophy that kept her sane.

"Heard about your save earlier. Keep up the good work. Superman out."

And with that, her daily check in was complete. Occasionally other Leaguers would stop in on their way from one galaxy to another, but Layla "Spyglass" Halleck went almost unnoticed for the most part.

The only positive thing Layla could derive from being alone all day in a space station was that she could look however she wanted and never worry about what others would think. When she was on Earth, in the foster system 6 years ago, she had always felt the pressure to conform. And even though she still watched the Victoria Secret Fashion Show every year, nowadays, her style was much more relaxed.

Her auburn hair was whipped into a frayed fishtail braid that fell over one shoulder and onto the keyboard she was sitting in front of. Her dark purple, oversized hoodie hid her curvy, small frame and accented the tight fit of her black yoga pants that draped casually over her slippers.

Layla rubbed the bridge of her nose and decided to take a break before heading back over to the window. Her job that had anointed her "Spyglass" was to use her super acute, amazingly attuned vision to fight crime. Simple enough. As long as she knew what she was looking for, she could spot it if it was in her field of vision. Near-sightedness, or in other words, living on Earth did not allow her to reach her true potential. Sure, she could stand on a mountain top, but even then, a 16 mile horizon line was her limit. In Watchtower, from space, she could monitor Atlantis and even other galaxies from her infinite Crow's Nest.

Retreating from her room to grab her headphones and iPod, Layla plugged some Mozart in and separated herself from the world. She didn't need to hear anything to know there was trouble all over the globe. She could see it plainly enough. Fishing something out of her worn jacket pocket, Layla uncrumpled the list Batman had left out for her of things to find that day. The Romanian children were just the start, and she would see it through to the end.

_Honestly, what else do I have to do?_ Spyglass thought mournfully as her piercing, inhumanly green eyes scanned the blue planet she gazed down upon from her tower. Her time would come eventually, and she would be free of the tower… if only for a little while.

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"Whew! It is _good _to be home!" Kid Flash announced as he and the rest of the Young Justice team arrived back to their mountain fortress in Happy Harbor after a long, successful guard-detail mission for the League. He raced into his room, a yellow and red blur through Mt. Justice to place his new Romanian souvenir- a mug with Dracula's face on it he'd received from a grateful villager- on his bookshelf.

"Why do we always go on these baby-sitting missions though?" Artemis mumbled as the team collapsed on the living room couch and settled down for some well deserved rest. She tossed her bow and quiver on the ground beside her and closed her masked eyes as she slumped onto the furniture.

"The mission assured that no more children went missing from the village." Although a similar sentiment was resonating through all his companions, Aqualad couldn't remain silent. "No matter how small, each mission is important. Besides, we don't know how this will play out in the broader scheme of the League's plans-"

"Yeah, but they always keep us in the dark," Robin interjected, giving his leader a pointed glance. The Atlantean was by far the most loyal and obedient of them all, and the youngest side-kick was getting tired of his constant justifications.

"Let's just hope Batman doesn't have another mission for us," M'gann sighed as she flew to the kitchen to grab a snack, Superboy close behind.

It was 3 PM before Robin noticed something was wrong.

"Has anyone seen Red Tornado? Isn't he supposed to be our den mother this week?" By now, the rest of the team had dispersed into their rooms, donning street clothes and proceeding to do mundane activities; M'gann and Conner working on his motorcycle with Wolf and Sphere, Wally playing videogames with Artemis finishing her English assignment, and Kaldur had gone to the shore to practice water manipulation. All seemed quiet.

"You worry too much, man. He's probably in Watchtower or-" Kid Flash was cut short as an incoherent, high pitched din rang out over all the com systems and headsets in Mt. Justice before being replaced by a bizarre sound.

"What is going on? I heard the noise from outside-" Aqualad rushed through the doors and stood out of breath before the rest of the team that had gathered in front of the zeta-tube screens to try to figure out what the sound was.

"Is that a pan-flute?" Artemis narrowed her eyes and strained to place the creepy, simple melody that filled the halls.

"Maybe. But whatever it is, the source is blocking communications with the whole League!" The Boy Wonder began tapping furiously at his handheld consol, trying to figure out what was going on. The only signal he could find was an incoming call from the Batcave. The team waited with bated breath for the transmission to play.

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Cellos could be surprisingly loud. Loud enough to block out the warning claxon of an imminent threat to the JL if you weren't paying attention. With her gaze fixed upon Earth, Layla didn't hear the coms going off left and right, barking orders for Watchtower to secure any incoming data and to report in on the other heroes out in the field, all of whom had gone radio-silent in the past hour.

Bruce Wayne retreated into the Batcave, aware of the danger rapidly racing towards him and the rest of the League Members. He'd been following the source of the threat for months now, and Romania had been the first step in a much larger master plan. But underground and with no coms in-tact, he knew a message to Spyglass was impossible. The only way to leave a message now was for his son, his side-kick and his most trusted friend. Hopefully it wouldn't be their last communication.

Hastily recording a video message and beaming it to Mt. Justice, Batman shut the computer down as a dangerous and haunting melody captivated him… and then all was black.

"_I don't have much time. There's enough energy in the emergency back-up system in the Hall of Justice to send a message and beam one person down from Watchtower. Contact Spyglass. She's the only one who knows what to do now."_

With that, the cool, level-headed Dark Avenger disconnected the feed and left the team standing haplessly in the middle of an all-out, League-wide silence. Coms were dead, radios and tracking systems down, zeta-tubes were mysteriously shut off, and all they could do was travel to the Hall of Justice and hope that whoever this "Spyglass" was could help them. They had no other choice.

"How could that weird music have totally knocked out our systems like that? And I didn't know anyone was left in Watchtower! Wouldn't they have contacted us by now?" Wally huffed as the team headed for the Bio-Ship in the hangar.

"Cool your jets, KF, we'll be lucky if the generators can open the bay doors," Robin snapped back. All six sidekicks buckled into the alien craft and left for the HoJ in record time with one question on their minds: where did all the heroes go?

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"Zeta override, alpha-tango-november-5-6-3-bravo-2-8-7-foxtrot," Layla barked frustrated into the empty chamber that, no matter how many times she spoke the override, would not take her down to Earth. Though the prospect of being so blind down at eye level frightened her, the League had gone silent, their tracking signals disappeared, and she was officially trapped in Watchtower.

"Great, just perfect!" she growled, running over to the window that overlooked the globe and zooming in on each Leaguer's last known location. Just as she suspected; they were converging on Europe. "That's the source of the sound. That weird flute music from earlier."

Layla paced back and forth in front of the window, using her amazing eye-sight to watch as one by one the League vanished from her sight. And all she could do was watch and hope for a miracle.

"_This is Robin calling Watchtower, come in Watchtower. This is an emergency, over." _Layla's gazed snapped over to the consol. How was in working? _"Come on! I know you're up there! Get in front of the zeta tube, you're coming down." _The sound cut out almost immediately after and Layla didn't waste a second. The tube lit up and soon her molecules were disassembling down on Earth. As she reappeared, the first thing that struck her was that everything was so close, so cramped and so new. She hadn't been down on ground level for years, and it was overwhelming.

Plus she never expected to meet the Young Justice team in her slippers.

"Who're you?" M'gann came forward and narrowed her eyes before the strange human that appeared before her. The rest of the team's thoughts were along the same lines.

"Non-League members are _never _allowed in Watchtower. Who _are_ you?"

Ah. The YJ team. Layla had never done missions with them before, but she wasn't surprised that they were suspicious. Spyglass was an alias not listed on any document, any record, in any database in any League facilities. She was the Justice League's most well kept secret.

"I _am _a League member, for your information. I'm Spyglass, the eye in the sky."

"How do we know you are who you say you are?" Superboy came forward out of the group and got equally close to her face as M'gann had been before.

"Uh, I guess you don't? But seriously, I must not be that threatening. I mean, what am I gonna do? Throw my slipper at you?" Layla laughed nervously as the team continued to gaze upon her with scrutiny.

"They let _you_ up in the Tower, but not _us? _Who _are _you?_" _Kid Flash asked in disbelief. Layla blinked and rubbed her arm nervously.

"I just said. You know, Spyglass? The eye in the sky? And don't bother trying to find me in any of your gadgets, Boy Wonder. I'm not on any League records." Seriously. Were they not listening?

"She is precisely where Batman said she would be. I trust her." Aqualad came forward and gazed into Layla's nearly glowing green eyes. She averted her gaze after only a few seconds, fearing her intent staring would lead her to observing the Atlanteans genetic make-up. She rarely locked gazes with people, and these rash, volatile heroes made her slightly nervous, and her un-focused powers were reflecting that. Staring at too long in an agitated state made her see things as small as cells in the human body, or atoms in solid objects. It was nerve-wracking.

"Look, sorry that you guys don't know me, but I have bad people skills, so I'll give you the Spark notes version. I've lived in Watchtower since I was 11. You don't know me, but like it or not, I've actually saved your asses on quite a few occasions, so let's keep this brief and professional. I hate being on Earth." Nervous ramblings poured unrestrained from Layla's mouth, her abruptness shocking the young heroes.

"Well someone's got a motor-mouth," Artemis whispered to M'gann as they observed the bizarre mannerisms of Spyglass. Besides, who hated being on Earth?

The silent tension was building, and all Layla could do to keep the butterflies down in her stomach was to zoom in on things outside the window.

"Fire on Third Street," she announced as the team had gathered aside for a meeting. They looked at her slightly bewildered before turning back together. "No, seriously. There's a fire four and a half miles west of here. Four people on the sixth floor, five on the third, and a kitten on the roof."

"M'gann, can you read her mind quickly, just to make sure she's telling the truth? Wally, you, Superboy and I will take care of the fire. The rest of you stay here and figure out what else she can tell us." Layla gave a mock salute as the three rushed off and left her with Robin, M'gann and Artemis. Once again her eyes wandered in the awkward silence.

"Batman sent us this message," Robin said, approaching the nervous green-eyed girl abruptly making her jump. "Just before we lost all contact. What do you make of it?" She could tell from his eager and anxious demeanor that he was worried about his mentor, but even she didn't quite know what Batman meant.

"I know that Batman was looking into some sort of weird harmonic anomaly coming from Romania, that's why you were there a few days ago. But that's all I got, I swear." To be honest, now that the reality of the situation was hitting her, she was freaking out. Batman, Superman, Wonderwoman, both Green Lanterns, Flash, Martian Manhunter and everyone else. All gone. And Batman thought _she _knew something?

"Miss Martian, pick her brain and make sure she's telling the truth-" Robin began, cut short by Layla's highly offended facial expression at the thought.

"I'm telling the _truth, _and I'm not gonna let you judge me like this is the Inquisition here! The Justice League is my family! You don't think I want to find them just as badly as you do?" Layla snapped, exasperated.

"She's not lying about that," M'gann interrupted quietly. Layla reeled on her.

"Hey! I said _don't _pick my brain! Ugh, can I at least get some real clothes. The zeta tubes are down and all I've got is my PJs until I can get back to Watchtower." Layla composed herself and glanced back and forth between a silent Artemis and a cautious M'gann.

"I guess we could check the bio ship…"

"Great! Now we're making progress."

Just as Layla was zippering up the spandex suit Miss Martian kept as a spare, Superboy, Aqualad and Kid Flash returned.

"You were right about the fire, and about the people inside," Aqualad began, giving a nod of approval at her skills.

"Yeah, what can you do anyways?" KF blurted out, eyeing the strange girl up in down as she picked at the blue and white skin-tight suit.

"I have hyper acute vision. If I know what I'm looking for and it's in my line of sight, I can find it," Layla responded automatically, putting her hair in a high ponytail and standing in front of the gang with her hands on her hips in stereotypical superhero fashion. She finally felt like a real superhero, going out to fight crime, and even receive a little recognition. Sure the Team didn't exactly make her feel like she belonged, but… baby steps.

"Wow, it's amazing what a suit can do to boost your confidence," she smirked. The team still looked hapless.

"Yeah, you look great, now can we please get started on finding the League? They've already been missing for an hour, and anything could have happened!" KF sped in front of Layla and pointed at her accusatorily. "Now use your acute vision or whatever and find them!"

"Before that, we need to get back to Happy Harbor. I need a map." Layla made her way to the bio ship, but the rest stood frozen behind her. "What're you waiting for? I have a lead, remember?"

"We have maps here in the Hall of Justice… duh," Artemis stated, crossing her arms and looking slightly haughty at taking the new girl down a notch. Layla merely shrugged the barb off.

"Right. Let me rephrase. I need a globe, with real time satellite imagery. This place is a museum, a dinosaur. It can't help us."

"Then we better get a move on." A voice interrupted the tension permeating the hall and its owner made himself known none too shyly.

"Hey Roy!" Kid Flash zipped over to greet his, Robin and Aqualad's former sidekick companion, Speedy, aka Red Arrow.

Roy Harper studied the group before him, narrowing his eyes on one person in particular. He'd been alerted to the incident when he'd tried to contact Mount Justice to check in for a solo assignment given to him by Black Canary and Green Arrow, but no one had answered. He'd clenched his bow in his right hand until the knuckle turned white with worry. He'd gone to the Hall to see if he could get into Watchtower, the one place he didn't have access to, but it was his last hope for locating the League. Now he was faced with his former comrades and a new face as well.

"Who's she?" he asked poignantly, cutting to the chase and making his way into the thick of the group as they boarded M'gannn's aircraft.

"I'm Spyglass. You've never heard of me-"

"Save it, we've got a job to do."

Layla blinked her green eyes and pursed her lips at the rejection. Wally came up behind her and whispered into her ear: "Don't worry about him. He can be a little… off-putting."

"Yah think?" she muttered back, more to herself than the young Flash who took his seat as they lifted off. At least he hadn't accused her of being a fake or a liar. That was a start.

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*sob* I read a story with 1000 reviews… I almost cried. I'm not asking for anywhere NEAR that number… maybe 10? Too much? 5?

DMar


	2. Chapter 2

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On the ride, Layla breathed shallowly against the tight belts that held her into the spacecraft as they flew over the ocean. It was so bizarre, to be able to see the texture of the waves and even the way it rippled as the blasts from the bio ship's turbines swirled blue patterns on the surface. When one is always looking at the big picture, it's hard to let the peaceful details be known.

The team hadn't taken to her like she'd expected. From her tower, they'd always seemed like a tight-knit, boisterous and accepting crowd. They themselves were young rag-tags with little experience being looked down upon by the League. She thought they'd share her sentiments, but instead, the very fact that she was so carefully concealed from even them made her a liability and nuisance. She was starting to think her desire to come and live a real life on earth had been a stupid and frivolous dream.

"You ok? You zoned out for a sec," Artemis poked Layla's shoulder as she had felt herself nodding off. Good thing to, because they had arrived.

Her musings on her relationship with the team would have to wait. At that point, her only obstacle was Red Arrow, who blocked her passage off the ship. He crossed his arms over his chest and stared her down. Even though she couldn't see his eyes through the mask, the glare was prevalent, heavily laden with mistrust and irritation.

"Spyglass, huh? Aqualad filled me in on how you got here, and I don't buy it," his snarling tone caught Layla off guard and she let out an offended and frustrated sigh clenching her fists before him.

"Fine. Don't take it from me, take it from Batman. He's the one who sent the message." Her limited people skills caused her to shake under his unbreakably hostile demeanor. The only people she'd had to deal with since she was 11 were her kind superhero mentors. Not angry teenage boys.

_Superman seriously did not prepare me for this. _She thought anxiously.

When he didn't respond, but continued to stare her down skeptically, she continued.

"Listen, I honestly have no idea how to prove myself to you other than to show you where the rest of the League is."

"For the record, I don't trust you." He spun around gruffly and stalked into the cave where Superboy, Aqualad, Miss Martian, Robin, Artemis and Kid Flash were all gathered around the 3-D globe tricked out _with _satellite imagery.

"Is there anyone you _do _trust?" Layla rolled her eyes at his tough guy routine but somehow found that she wanted to prove herself. Not just to him, but to everyone. The League had locked her away, but now that she was out, she was going to be just as helpful. She was gonna see the action and make a save herself.

"Ah, this feels more like home!" she whispered gleefully, pulling up the Romanian footage as she stood comfortably in front of the earth's cyber image. "Everyone in the JL disengaged their transponders at 2:45ish, but I watched as they convened on the _same _cave that Batman and the Flash rescued the children from a few hours earlier. I can only assume-"

"Mount up team," Red Arrow barked, sending the YJ gang into a frenzy to get ready. Once again, Layla was caught unawares by his blunt actions.

"Geez, can't get a word in edgewise," she mumbled, heading towards the flight hangar before Roy held out a hand to stop her. She ran into his arm out of spite and glared up at him, waiting for an explanation. The guy was getting on her last nerve.

"You're staying here. We already know the location, and you'll just-"

"I'll just what? I have every right to go!" the auburn haired girl locked gazes with Red Arrow before attempting to go under his arm and follow her team to Romania.

"I _said _you're not going!" Layla jumped at his raised voice and attempted to dodge his grip, but it closed down on her and soon, her arms were pinned to her sides, wrapped in a bear hug by the disgruntled former side-kick of Green Arrow. Layla thrashed in outrage, wondering exactly what her captor planned to do to keep her that way while him and Young Justice spirited off to the other side of the world.

"What's taking you so long?" Superboy trailed off as he caught sight of the commotion occurring back in the cave. He raised an eyebrow quizzically. Layla's face was already beat red from her subdual, but Roy's face flared up as well and he dropped her to the ground and cleared his throat nervously.

"Let's go."

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"She's lived in Watchtower since she was 11? It must've been so lonely," M'gann mused as she piloted the bio ship across the Atlantic. Layla slumbered in the back to give her eyes a rest, and Roy leaned in on the conversation between the Martian and Artemis to gather intel on the mysterious _Spyglass._

"Yeah, old enough to have a family… and have them taken away."

"What's she complaining about? She's had the best mentors a kid could ask for-" Superboy interjected, his jealousy kicking in at the prospect of this girl living close with his biological and frustratingly estranged father, Superman.

"Okay, but something must've happened to her to make her hate Earth, don't you think?" Artemis snapped, empathy at the girl's situation apparent in her eyes. She'd lost her family for a while, and if it hadn't been for Green Arrow, she might've ended up like her sister… or worse. She was only sorry she hadn't gotten to know the strange girl sooner. They might've been friends, if she had joined the team instead of getting locked away, even if it was for the good of the word.

_Blood. Flowing in rivulets, streams, rivers, oceans, pooling under the smooth, ribbon like hair of her mother, lying lifeless on the ground, eyes unblinking and gazing out for miles at a girl who stared back with eyes that lit up the darkness._

_An axe lodged in a stump outside a dark cabin in the woods. _

_Darkness didn't scare her. You could hide in the darkness. It was only when she found her hands grasping for purchase on the dark, uneven ground after she'd fallen to escape him… that was when she became scared. He would never find her. He was gone now. _

_Gone. _

_Gone? _

Who was gone?

Layla awoke with a start. She hadn't had one of those dreams (or rather, memories) in a long time.

"I think it best we don't talk behind the back of our comrade," Kaldur added quietly, glancing back to where Layla wrested in her sleep until she finally came to. Everyone was staring at her, and her glowing green eyes stared back.

"Not far now," she said groggily, her eyes zooming in on the European continent as it inched closer and closer on the horizon.

When they'd landed, Aqualad had given the signal to go into camouflage mode, and everyone but her, Kaldur and Roy remained. The tree line looked much more menacing as it loomed before Layla than it had when she's seen it from afar.

"You two will be alright, remaining together?" the Atlantean team leader glanced uncertainly at Red Arrow, who merely strapped his quiver on his back and gave a tilt of his head to indicate Layla should follow.

"If she's gonna come, I'm not letting her out of my sight."

Layla rolled her eyes behind him. It seemed to be a habit she was forming around him. Aqualad didn't seem concerned at the mistrust however, and disappeared, passing the League's secret savior into the hands of an old albeit irrational friend.

"_Mind links up?" _M'gann called out through her telepathic communication. At the sound, Layla nearly jumped out of her skin and let out a surprised yelp. Red Arrow growled under his breath and his biting glare wrenched her back to her senses.

"_This mission requires __**finesse.**__ I don't need you shrieking and alerting everyone to our position. The League is at stake." _The heaviness of Roy's words weighed down on the 17 year old, bright eyed girl, and she nodded, gritting her teeth and trying to get herself together.

"_Robin and KF approaching coordinates,"_ the Boy Wonder beamed in through his team's brains, and soon, anxieties were running high.

"_Any sign of the League?" _Artemis asked apprehensively, her fingers twitching around her drawn bow as she waited in hiding outside the entrance. _"I see 6 guards, and I can hear that weird sound again,_" She added, allowing the haunting melody to flow through the mind link so everyone would recognize it.

"What the hell is that?" Layla whispered allowed, immediately receiving a chastising look from Red Arrow. It was amazing to her how many different looks of anger the man could convey. He had quite a versatile range. She covered her mouth to suppress a chuckle.

_I suppose it's not his fault he's so intense. He was brought up to be a superhero. I mean, I've been doing it a while, but my job's always been laid back, safe, and with little chance of failure. I might be that way too if I'd grown up in this cramped place. _Once again, the closeness of the world, the feeling of the wind and trees, the new smells and everything about being on a planet again was starting to catch up with Spyglass, and she was feeling dizzy.

Her thoughts were racing a mile a minute as the reality of where she was and what she was doing hit her. 24 hours ago, she'd been safe in her ivory tower, watching while the world played out below her like so many dancing figurines in a music box, the same things over and over again. Robbery, murder, kidnappings, famine, chaos… and the Justice League was the only thing that existed to restore balance. Who would want to destroy that?

Who would try to destroy her new-found family? She'd kill them if they tried.

Roy (and the no doubt the rest of the team) suddenly picked up the wave of hatred emanating from their newest member. It was a side of the strange girl they'd yet to witness, and it was pretty intense.

"_Sorry."_ Layla tapped into her link and stole a glance at her partner. "_I just really want to get them back._"

"_Tell me about it," _Robin added, zeroing in on the cave and taking out the guards with the help of Artemis, KF, Miss Martian and Superboy. Aqualad proceeded first into the cave where the music was swelling to a nearly unbearable crescendo.

The cave was a rat-maze; dark, crude, and all the team had to go on was that irritating ocarina… flute… piccolo… etc.

"It's getting louder. Definitely," KF groaned as he plugged his ears with his fingers and turned to check on the team at his back.

"Thanks, Kid Obvious," Artemis growled, following suit and covering her ears with her gloved hands.

"Robin, can you run a diagnostics check on that sound? See if it's been recorded anywhere before-"

"Got it!" Robin interrupted Aqualad and held out his handheld com for the rest of the team to see. Superboy furrowed his eyebrows.

"The sound is coming from… a former Leaguer?" he asked hesitantly, looking to the four oldest sidekicks for confirmation. Aqualad shook his head puzzled.

"Not one that I've ever heard of," he said frowning, and glancing at Roy and Layla.

"No, I think I'd remember this guy." Layla found herself shouting just to get her point across, trying to recall the face of the flute-playing man on the small screen. Then it clicked. "He was locked up in Belle Reve!"

"What?!" Robin shouted back as they neared the source of the loud, now incredibly annoying sound.

"I _said, _he was locked up in Belle Reve, after being rejected by the Justice League!" she barked again, scanning his MO on the handheld to make sure it was the same person she was thinking of.

"_Yup, two years ago this wacko got turned down to enter the League. He went nuts," _Layla reiterated through the mental link as they entered the heart of the maze only to find, not a man with a flute, but a man with a huge ass computer.

"I'm afraid you're too late, little heroes!" the small, maniacal flute player chuckled through the din.

"What did he say?" Kid Flash yelled to Aqualad who merely shook his head, his gaze never wavering from their adversary.

"I said YOU'RE TOO LATE!" the twitchy man at the keyboard turned around in his chair where the music had quieted down to a soft background noise and stared the Young Justice team down. Layla took a step forward to face him when she was stopped by Roy's arm.

"_What're you doing? He has the League locked up somewhere!" _ It was Layla's turn to glare at the archer who merely jerked his head toward the cave opening on the far side, where slowly, a blank faced Justice League emerged from the shadows and stared at their protégés unblinking.

"What're they doing? Why aren't they fighting?" Artemis whipped her head to look at Robin who was typing away, equally frustrated. "It's the music! Knock out that computer and we should get them back-"

"Batman, attack the Boy Wonder," the Flute-man ordered, and without wasting any time, the Dark Knight was above his protégé, firing blow after blow relentlessly at the young sidekick who stopped his hacking in order to block. "Justice League, dispose of the others."

The team locked gazes. They were in for it now.

"It's still viable! Shut down the computer and-" Robin spoke between ducks and swings of his own, dodging blasts and attacks from other League members as well, who were thankfully held at bay by a barrage of arrows from both Artemis and Red Arrow.

Layla stood there completely subdued. She couldn't fight. She couldn't even defend herself. It was never necessary when you lived in Watchtower, a completely safe compound in space. Now she could do nothing.

"Spyglass! Head for the computer. We'll hold them off!" Aqualad ordered as he pulled out his water bearers and was met with the challenge of a dozen leaguers. Layla surveyed the grim scene. She didn't have much time. Her glowing green eyes watered as her feet pounded over the dirt of the cave and before she knew it, she was sitting at the control consol with the flute-man standing behind her laughing. Life was so unfair. She wished that guy would shut up so she could think. She wished the music would turn off, but the screen was locked! She wasn't a genius hacker like Robin, and she couldn't smash it to bits like Superboy. All she could do was sit hopelessly as the song played away and her mentors were forever captured by the innocuous melody.

In a moment of desperation (or inspiration), Layla could only think of one thing to do. She hopped out of the chair, gripped the armrests firmly in her hands and as the jovial face of the Flute-man fell, Layla knew she'd won.

With a great heave, Layla swung the revolving chair into the computer screen and watched as the speakers stuttered to a dull static and the images dissipated. She'd done it. She'd been useful. She'd saved… someone.

"You idiot! Do you know what you've done?" The Flute-man rushed at her and shook her hard, interrupting the momentary relief of the YJ team who had received a reprieve from the fight with their mentors. Now that the music was off, they were once again blank faced zombies.

Sirens began whirring and warning claxons sounded throughout the maze.

"What's happening?" Miss Martian gasped, waving her hand in front of her uncle, Martian Man-hunter's face, but still no response.

"The computer's gone into self-destruct mode!" Layla announced, rushing back to join her teammates who watched as the Flute-man fled into the maze of tunnels. "He's getting away!" she began, rushing towards the dark path he'd turned down, but once again a teammate blocked her path. This time it was Aqualad.

"Our first priority is the League. By Robin's calculations, the cave is set to collapse in 10 minutes."

"T-ten minutes?" Kid Flash stuttered, looking back and forth at the frozen Leaguers, ranging in the dozens that needed to be evacuated.

"Get your heads on straight! M'gann, take the ones you can telekinetically, Kaldur, as many with your water bearers as you can. Wally, you get a head start and make as many trips in and out, with the time we have left. The rest of us will take one and… we'll do what we can." Roy's grave words hit the rest of the team as they scrambled to carry their unresponsive mentors out alive.

"I don't understand! Once the sound went off, it should've sent them back to normal, right?" Layla asked Robin, who looked equally concerned.

"They must've had their brains reset somehow. If we get back, we'll have to figure out how to counteract whatever that guy did to them to return them to normal."

"When." Layla snapped at him as they hustled through the tunnel. Artemis and Layla carried Black Canary between them, and even the archer was confused.

"When?"

"_When _we get back, we'll have to reset them. You said 'if.'" Robin was glad it was dark enough that the new girl couldn't see his grim expression.

"Right. When."

Slowly, but surely, the League members were whisked to safety by the young team, who struggled under the weight of the task. The small tremors that had been barely noticeable at the start of the evacuation had become small earthquakes that threatened to take down the caves before the promised 10 minutes were up.

"I never said it was _exactly _10 minutes," the Boy wonder mumbled as he and Aqualad heaved Batman out into the light of the Romanian clearing.

"That should be everyone," KF tallied, his green eyes scanning the field quickly before his gaze widened. "Where's Roy?" Artemis, Miss M, Robin, Superboy and Aqualad whipped their heads towards the cave entrance.

"Where's Spyglass?"

Before the thought of rescue could race through anyone's head, a shuddering groan coursed through the tunnels and with one last roar of tremors, the cave entrance was covered completely by rubble; Red Arrow and Spyglass sealed inside.

...

..

.

I'm very sorry about my sketchy back story for Layla. I was planning on maybe doing a itty bitty sequel, but I dunno yet. Sadly that is all you get. Hopefully she's not too lame. But she kinda is, I'll admit. Love her death tho, she's my creation!

DMar


	3. Chapter 3

...

..

.

After helping Artemis get Black Canary out safely, Layla surveyed the area quickly before realizing a very salient fact. Roy was missing. He'd gone back in to make sure there was no one left in the collapsing tunnels, and despite every warning sign telling her to stay out in the sun, where it was safe, Layla couldn't leave him behind.

_He's my teammate now. I can't leave him! _As much as Red Arrow had ragged on her since the first moment she'd met him, what better way could there be to prove her loyalty? And the tremors were getting worse. _What if he's hurt in there? _

Layla found herself enveloped back in the darkness of the cave, grateful that her eyes glowed and allowed her some light in the otherwise pitch black underground. The small earthquakes of faulty explosives going off every which way thanks to the broken computer (and Layla, in an indirect way), that had broken the gas lighting inside and left her in utter blackness.

"Red Arrow?" She called through the dark passage, seeing the opening of daylight getting further and further behind her.

Before she knew it, Layla had fallen over an obstruction in the path where a pile of rocks had been heaped, blocking the tunnel to the heart of the maze. Had Roy gotten trapped down there?

A groan alerted Layla to her companion's whereabouts- not behind the wall of rocks, but nearly underneath it.

"Was there anyone left back there?" she asked him in a hushed voice, as if a louder sound would do further damage to the cave around them. Red Arrow only shook his head, clawing his way out from under the mound of debris.

"But you shouldn't have come. We're both done for."

Layla blinked at him confused. Then realized what he'd meant. Red Arrow held his bleeding leg and leaned against the wall of the cave for support. He'd never be able to get back the length of the tunnel to safety.

"If you ran, you might be able to-"

"Don't say it! I'm not leaving you here!" Layla whispered, clenching her hands into fists and taking Roy's arm over her shoulder. "It's not over 'til it's over," she said, more to herself than anything.

_Sure he might've been an annoying pain in the butt when I met him, but nobody should… die alone. _The chilling thought surged through the weak mental connection still shared by Miss Martian reverberated through both junior heroes, and they both stopped, realizing that there was nothing left to do. The walls of the cave were shaking beyond help. The cave would come down any second.

"Come on. Let's go this way: under the support beams ahead," she advised, seating the limping archer down below the last remaining gas lamp in the whole of the darkness. The light from the cave entrance had already been extinguished, and with a final boom, the walls around them collapsed, leaving only the tiny space between them intact.

Red Arrow wasn't sure if it was humane or cruel what had happened. The two would run out of air, or aftershocks would crush them to death, slowly. Once again, the faint mental connection had Layla chastising him.

In the aftermath and the darkness, the echoing quiet was more than Layla could take.

"Are… are you in any pain?" She whispered. The lamp had shuddered out almost instantly after the final explosion and left only the eerie green glow of Layla's eyes, illuminating the space between the two unfortunate teammates that left Roy feeling like he was looking through night vision goggles.

"Just peachy," he muttered back, adjusting his position against the rugged rock wall behind him, and dust and small rocks fell from the ceiling from the slight movement. "This place is precarious. Move and we're dead."

"What's with all the fatalism?" Layla grumbled in response. Maybe it was because she'd been protected all her life that she assumed this dank, sad situation was not going to be the end, but Roy knew better. The walls would finish collapsing soon enough, and even if rescue arrived, the digging would only lead to another collapse. Nothing could be done.

As Roy lost himself in the hopelessness of the situation, Layla was stuck on another sad thought. Nobody on the team knew who she really was. Of course she knew everything about them; what M'gann liked to cook most, what subjects Wally was best at in school, Robin's favorite movie… little details that weren't in the files she'd read, but what she'd learned from observing, and getting to know them. Even Roy, with his illusive anger, his stony gaze and stern demeanor… he liked Chinese food. _She _liked Chinese food. Maybe she would never get to share it with him.

"Layla."

The small voice across from him distracted Roy from the imminent situation.

"My name. It's Layla. I never thought I'd be a hero... although I guess I never thought I'd end up like this either, but I wouldn't take any of it back."

"Not even the part where we both get stuck in this tunnel?" Roy asked, a small smile tugging at his lips.

"_Well, __**maybe **__that part," _she thought, smirking in response. Then jumped to her feet. Roy was quick on the uptake as well. "The mental link! It's still up! _M'gann! Robin, KF, Artemis, Aqualad, Superboy… can anyone hear us?!" _

"_Layla, don't jump around, the cave will collapse," _Roy reminded her, cautiously getting to his feet and listening for where the mental link was strongest. "_Kaldur, it's Roy. You're right over us." _

"_Copy that. We'll do our best to-"_

Red Arrow and Spyglass looked up hesitantly as debris came raining down on them as the Team attempted to dig them out, obviously with less finesse than they'd hoped.

"_No good! The roof is caving in." _Roy responded through the mental link and received a collected, frustrated groan.

"_But you're running out of air down there-" _Aqualad began, but was cut off immediately by the strong, prevailing presence of Roy in the link.

"_I know."_

Roy glanced at Layla, whose face had turned from one of accepting the reality, to one with a small glimmer of hope. Her eyes were trained on the sagging ceiling, hoping for her team to somehow figure a way to get them out in one piece. She was hoping for a miracle.

And it came.

"Layla, get down beside me." Roy, turning on his Red Arrow voice ordered, to which the young Leaguer eagerly complied. The change in the emotion of the mental link let her know something was up, something that could possibly lead to escape. Looking up at him from her position on the ground, Roy spoke again, slipping his hand into his fallen quiver and pulling out a very particular arrow. He could tell it was the right one just by the feel of it in his fingers.

"Hold on to me," he instructed, crouching down on his injured leg and holding the arrow in front of the two, where Layla's bright eyes could show her what was going on. "In a few seconds, I'm going to smash this arrow above us. It's filled with an expanding foam that will protect us from the debris, but… we won't be able to breathe inside it." His serious gaze that locked with hers wavered slightly at the prospect of being enveloped in a dark, sticky place that could suffocate her to death. She was trading one prison for another.

Red Arrow sensed her weakness, but moved slowly to show her that he wasn't planning on backing down. They had a sliver of a chance of making it out alive, and they were gonna take it. Unexpectedly, he reached an arm around her crouched waist and pulled her even closer. At least if he was going to die, it was better to be in someone's arms.

Layla squeezed her eyes shut, and the lights surrounding the pair went out.

"_Now." _

YJYJYJYJYJYJYJYJYJYJYJYJYJYJ YJYJYJYJYJYJYJYJ

It felt like an eternity in the black bubble before Layla burst forth, coughing and gasping in fresh air on the surface again. Beside her lay an equally astonished Roy Harper, who could hardly believe the plan worked. But they were safe, and he was still hugging her to him. With a grunt, he released a surprised Spyglass who fell to the ground at his rough realization of their position, and limped to his feet.

"You're alright!" M'gann came racing forward and embraced the sad twosome who'd just emerged from an almost early grave.

"Not quite," Roy coughed in response, still clearing the thick foam residue out of his lungs and resting his hand on his good leg.

"I suppose this is mission accomplished then?" Kid Flash offered with a shrug, giving his uncertain teammates a half smile at the bizarre situation.

"One could say that. Let's get the League back to the Mountain. We will sort out this problem there." Aqualad motioned for the team to begin filling the bioship with the Leaguers.

"Gee, swell. We're literally the only thing left protecting the planet! And it was all thanks to that weird flute guy!" Artemis fumed, flicking an unresponsive Green Arrow in the shoulder to prove her point. They were done for if they couldn't reverse the damage done by the Flute-man.

"No use worrying about it until we're back in the cave," Layla interrupted as the ship took off, taking no notice to the onslaught of worried expressions that followed the archer's words. Really, she was most worried about Roy.

Which was bad. Having feelings for the beings she watched over and had no control over was bad! She lived in the Watchtower! She was a slave to the League and its mission. Plus she knew next to nothing about boys and their antics and-

"You look like you're deep in thought. Care to share?" Superboy poked his head between the seats where Layla resided between Wally and M'gann , and narrowed his eyes at Layla, whose green ones had been flickering back and forth between Red Arrow, and the interesting pattern of tiles at her feet.

"Ahem, it's nothing," she replied lamely, turning to look out the window and glad for the silence that followed. She didn't belong in the world like this. She belonged above it. Making friends and bonds was pointless if they were just going to be severed anyway.

As they got closer and closer to Mt. Justice, Layla knew her time on Earth was coming to a close, and dreaded it as Robin set to work trying to restore the League. She knew he could do it. She'd studied the way he utilized his vast intellect, and his ingenuity often astounded her. But the one team member she couldn't quite fathom was Red Arrow.

"Layla." The object of her contemplation's voice broke through the sea of woes that sloshed about in her mind and she was suddenly very aware of his presence beside her in the medical room. M'gann and Wally had helped Roy take off his ripped pants and were preparing to close his wounds when he spoke to the startled Spyglass.

"Thanks." Layla blinked several times before she even processed that he'd said anything.

_Thanks? Thanks for what?_

"So, you're name's Layla huh?" the bright eyed girl barely had a second to think before KF turned on his charm and began accosting her with ridiculous questions and pick up lines. It wasn't long before the whole cave knew her name. So much for a secret identity.

"Don't worry. You're an honorary member now! You're secret's safe with us!" Wally flashed her a genuine smile and Layla felt a blush heating up her face. The embarrassment caused her eyes to zoom in on the molecules of KF's bright yellow suit, and she had to snap herself out before she split an atom with the intensity of her gaze.

And it wasn't just Wally smiling: even Superboy had a smirk on his face at her 'honorary membership'.

She wanted to stay! She wanted to be part of this team, part of this family…

YJYJYJYJYJYJYJYJYJYJYJYJYJYJ YJYJYJYJYJ

"You did well, Spyglass." Superman put a comforting hand on the girl's shoulder as Aqualad gave the main League members a status report of the damaged systems, and the recovery of their stable brain waves.

"Must be scary for you, seeing everything up close like this. But don't worry. You can go back up to Watchtower if you want now," the Man of Steel continued. Layla's green eyes lowered under the bangs that had fallen out of her ponytail. How could she disappoint Superman? Would he be mad, if she asked to spend more time on Earth?

"Let's go little lady. The zeta tubes wait for no man… or woman," Green Arrow called out, beckoning the reluctant little heroine into the warm orange glow of the transport beam.

"_No, no! I want to stay! I want to live in the world, not sit on the sidelines."_

Spyglass clenched her fists and raised her green gaze level with Green Arrow's, but to her surprise, he had a knowing smile. Unknowingly, Ms. Martian had tapped into the mental comms just in time for the whole mountain to hear the former lookout's little outburst.

"M-M'gann! What if I had been thinking something weird?! You woulda broadcast it to everybody!" the indignant Layla cried, looking back and forth between her mentors- Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Martian Man-hunter… they all looked so-

"We're proud of you, Layla. I think you're ready to step out on your own. But you had to be the one to leave the nest, so to speak." Black Canary came up behind Spyglass with a comm link stamped 'YJ' in her hand and the girl thought her heart was going to stop.

"_I get to stay? Wow! I never thought I'd say this, but this is the happiest day of my life!"_

Layla held back an excited squeal, but was once again getting weird looks from the League and YJ team.

"That's great kid. You guys take good care of her now." Superman gave a final wave before disappearing with the rest of the League in the zeta tubes. Layla's face was bright red.

"M'GANN! Stop doing that!"

Artemis smiled at her green teammate's cleverness and crossed her arms, replying to the renewed outburst with a rather haughty laugh.

"Come on Layla! If she hadn't, you never come out and admitted that you liked hanging with us!"

"Even if you were almost crushed to death in a twisted underground rock maze. That really puts the 'dis' in 'disaster'!" the Boy Wonder added, looking slightly tired after all the mental reprogramming. He wasn't sure he ever wanted to look inside the brains of the Justice League. Ever.

"Hey! There's someone who _doesn't _know about your recent addition. Why don't you go tell you-know-who?" Artemis sidled up next to Layla, who was still reeling with the news, and prodded her in the ribs playfully. Everyone had seen the interaction between the two after the cave incident. The way Roy and Layla's awkward side glances kept meeting, only to have the two snap their heads in the opposite direction when they saw the other looking their way. Unfortunately, Layla had yet to learn about 'playing it cool'.

"What're you talking about? Me and Roy? Are you crazy, haha! Yup, that's funny! You… crazy. Heh…" Layla cleared her throat and took a step away from Artemis only to bump into Aqualad who even wore a smug look.

"Not you too Atlantean!" she cried out in vain, trudging toward the infirmary with apprehension, if only to get away from the eerily expectant looks on her new teammates faces.

"_What is wrong with me? This is so awkward! Why did I have to be so obvious! I didn't think I was __**that **__obvious." _

"You were pretty obvious."

Layla's heart jumped into her throat, hearing Roy's voice responding to her thoughts. "How come I'm the only one that that works on?" she wondered despairingly. She hoped that it would quit it from then on.

"_Seriously, quit it. I'm easy enough to read as it is."_

"Like a book. At least now I know you're not a threat to the League anymore." The bright, angry glow of Layla's super eyes lit up the white hospital room.

"I was never a threat in the first place! And don't get any ideas about what you heard from my… _brain _a few seconds ago! I just thought it was cool the way you saved us from dying young, untimely deaths, that's all! You're still a total jerk!" the normally shy girl barked at her former aggressor, hoping to cover her tracks with brash rudeness. Even Red Arrow noticed the change in the girl from even a few hours before.

"I think I liked it better when you were afraid of me," Roy mumbled as the auburn haired girl stalked off in a huff. There would be a time to chase after her, but right now, he didn't mind watching her walk away. The way the tight spandex hugged her hips-

"_Is she wearing underwear?" _

Layla stopped cold in the hallway as echoes of laughter rung through the base.

They would have to get that mind link thing fixed soon.

* * *

Semi-note number one: I'm well aware that my intro to that villain was totally stupid and contrived, and in my head it went better, but hopefully you guys liked it anyway. Also, I'm a total Roy fan, so *spoiler* I just ignore the parts of the show where it talks about him and Jade… and their baby. Blegh. Jk tho, I actually love Invasion.

Semi-note number two: I actually wrote this in two main sittings, so if the characters seemed a bit weird and bipolar, I apologize. I haven't posted anything in a while and I wanted to crank this puppy out.

~Dmar.


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